Thank you for Subscribing to CIO Applications Weekly Brief

Haug Partners: Spearheading Legal Discourse through Innovation

Follow Haug Partners on :

Ed Haug, Managing Partner

Over two decades, Haug Partners has carved a niche in the legal services industry. The firm is at the forefront of delivering synthesized, multidisciplinary legal services for innovator life science and technology businesses. Behind the success of Haug Partners’ services, rests a diligent team that includes former research scientists, in-house corporate counsel, FDA and FTC attorneys, and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office examiners with advanced degrees in specialized technical fields and extensive industry experience.

What makes Haug Partners’ services second to none is their ability to convene a multidisciplinary team based on the specific requirements of its clients that formulates a comprehensive legal strategy to deliver an integrated solution. Equipped with technical expertise, legal acumen, and practical business judgment, Haug Partners is uniquely positioned to assist its clients with Intellectual Property procurement, management and enforcement from inception of an idea, through commercialization and next-generation planning. While the firm has decades of demonstrated success representing pharmaceutical companies, it also provides services for the biotechnology and life science, medical device, aerospace, chemical, automotive, information technology, e-commerce, cosmetic, consumer electronic, telecommunication, energy, semiconductor, financial services, and insurance industries.

In an interaction with CIO Applications, Ed Haug, Managing Partner, and Nick Giove, Partner shares their insights into the value propositions and services of the company:

What are the current trends and challenges pertaining to Intellectual property (IP) management?

Ed: The challenges are multifold in the IP management area. The first is legal challenges where various issues such as subject matter eligibility requirements for patents under section 101 are under constant review by the Supreme Court, the Federal Circuit, the USPTO through the PTAB and the U.S. District Courts. Additionally, tensions are creeping out of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that was created by the America Invents Act. This has multiplied the ways of attacking the validity of issued patents. Pharmaceutical companies are also under bipartisan political pressure to bring down the cost of drugs. And lastly, there is uncertainty arising out of ongoing trade negotiations between the U.S. government, China and even our allies in Europe. One of the interesting things to look for in those negotiations is how IP is dealt within China. The matter of concern here is that once technology is transferred to companies in the Chinese economy, there is currently very little meaningful opportunity to protect that technology.

What differentiates Haug Partners from other law firms that provide IP services?

Ed: The core focus of Haug Partners is IP procurement, management, and enforcement.

We undertake a practical, dynamic approach to onboarding clients that allows us to analyze their requirements and devise comprehensive solutions

We are a technology-oriented firm focused on managing all aspects of IP management, including patent litigation, due diligence in mergers and acquisitions, patent procurement and government investigations. In addition to our patent prosecution and litigation groups that procure and enforce IP assets, we also have an antitrust group that focuses on issues that are often part of a larger patent dispute, including defending our clients in class action suits. We also hired a former lead PTAB judge, Judge Brian Murphy, to handle IPR challenges to the validity of patents. In order to manage licensing and commercial aspects, we have corporate and trademark groups. When the Hatch-Waxman Act was first enacted, companies often had to hire separate law firms for FDA, antitrust, transactions, and litigation, making the entire process cumbersome. Haug Partners was the first (and perhaps still only) IP firm to offer a one-stop shop that draws from all of these areas to streamline the process for our clients.

Nick: Unlike other players in the industry, Haug Partners takes an immediate multidisciplinary approach to address the challenges faced by our innovator clients. From day one, every case that comes our way is staffed with individuals who can anticipate and address all possible contingencies. Another differentiating factor is our knowledge and experience with specific venues. There are certain courts in Delaware, New Jersey, California, and Texas where many of our cases proceed, as patent litigation tends to gravitate towards these courts for various reasons. Our intimate knowledge of the judges in these districts give us a significant edge over other firms. Another distinguishing factor is that many of our partners hold leadership positions on the important IP-related bar associations that allow us to stay up to speed on judicial trends and legislative developments.

Nick Giove, Partner

Can you shed some light on the client onboarding process at Haug Partners?

Ed: We undertake a practical, dynamic approach to onboarding clients that allows us to analyze their requirements and devise comprehensive solutions. Our pharmaceutical clients run from large companies to startups, including Takeda, Sanofi, Supernus, Celgene, Biogen, and others. We also have strong relationships with some of the world’s largest automobile manufacturers and technology companies.

Can you share an example of how you helped a client address a significant problem?

Ed: An example that comes to mind is a multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical case where we represented Shire Pharmaceuticals. Shire was facing the loss of its flagship product, Adderall XR, which is an important treatment for ADHD. Haug Partners was initially hired as co-counsel, but seeing our expertise in this area, Shire made the decision to transition us to lead counsel. Our team was able to protect Shire’s market through multiple court victories and settlements over several years, laying the groundwork for its growth into one of the world’s most successful specialty pharma companies.

What does the future hold for Haug Partners?

Nick: In addition to our focus on the Pharmaceutical Industry, we continue to expand our services, capabilities, and client base in other markets, such as automobile, microchip, drones, biotech, cryptocurrency, and others.

Ed: Starting with about 10 attorneys in 1997, Haug Partners now has 75 attorneys spread across its offices in Boston, New York, and Washington, DC. We are today the largest IP focused firm in New York City and are continuing our efforts to expand to Florida in order to eventually cover the entire east coast, from Boston to Miami.